Aswad
36 articles
Audio interviews
Interview by Simon Witter, Rock's Backpages audio, 9 March 1983
Brinsley Forde, Tony "Gad" Robinson and Drummie Zeb discuss the sufferation of Brit reggae acts, Rastafari and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 45.1mb, interview length: 49' 19" sound quality: ***
List of articles in the library
British Reggae: Prejudiced Vibrations
Comment by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 9 October 1976
ON THE SURFACE it looks as though there has been something of a major breakthrough for reggae in Britain. ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 December 1976
"I think it’s only now people really see it — we suffer here as well." ...
Aswad: The Other Cinema, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
ASWAD PLAYED on an Other Cinema music night, a reggae special, following a showing of Horace Ore's Reggae and Step Forward Youth and a documentary ...
Overview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 September 1977
ASWAD: Drummie, drums, vocals: George Oban, bass: Chaka Forde, rhythm guitar, vocals: Donald Guiti, lead guitar, vocals. Courtney Hennings, keyboards, vocals. ...
Live Review by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 24 September 1977
And we don't careThe message: punk's now a business ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 April 1978
REVELATION TIME. Aswad hadn't played any dates to speak of, and the audience were Aswad-starved, raring to rave. ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
ALL ROADS LEAD to the 100 Club in London's West End every Thursday night, where – "in tune to Silver Camel Sound" – the weekly ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Melody Maker, 11 November 1978
The attention nowgiven to British reggae bandsis largely due to the pioneering work of Aswad, who invented live dub and played alongside the early punk bands. But, ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
IT'S EASY TO feel alienated by certain aspects of reggae, not the least of which is the idolatry afforded it by impressionable whites: 'Milky Bar ...
Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 22 August 1980
FOR ALL its enjoyable effects, the ska-punk blend of 2-Tone music may have done lasting damage to another, potentially even more valuable fusion: local reggae, ...
Aswad/Linton Kwesi Johnson/New Regulars: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 January 1981
MONDAY NIGHT in the Palais: forward and upful all the way. Aswad's 'Warrior Charge' as featured in Babylon and Brinsley Forde's performance in the principal ...
Linx and Aswad: Shades of Black
Profile and Interview by Richard Williams, The Times, 26 November 1981
THERE IS A special role in British life for young black pop musicians, involving a task more serious than could ever be demanded of their ...
Creation Rebel: Psychotic Jonkanoo (STAT IP4); Aswad: New Chapter (CBS 85336)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 November 1981
Aswad — home grown Roots ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, Summer 1981
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE RAINBOW ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 January 1982
Sounds kinda progressive ...
Aswad: Stepping Across the Front Line
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 21 August 1982
Lloyd Bradley finds out why Britain's foremost reggae rockers still aren't satisfied. ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
CARNIVALS ARE crucial — all the best cultures have 'em. But the world has a way of perverting the simplest pleasures, and since 76, Carnival ...
Aswad: Conquering Lions Of The Concrete Jungle
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
IF REGGAE is dying, how curious that my interest in it is just coming to life. Years of comparative indifference (and ignorance) pass and suddenly ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, Time Out, 5 July 1984
That Aswad are The Greatest Reggae Band In The World is the principal theme of Island Records' campaign to give the London-born trio the commercial ...
Jimmy Cliff, Aswad: Crystal Palace Bowl, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 30 July 1984
THE ANNUAL Nelson Mandela festival was held in perfect sunlight in the secluded grassy amphitheatre at Crystal Palace. Unfortunately one reason why it was so ...
The Mighty Wah!, Aswad, High Five: Liverpool People's Festival, St George's Hall, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 29 September 1984
The People's Poet ...
The Mighty Wah!, Aswad, High Five: Peoples Festival, St George's Hall, Liverpool
Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 29 September 1984
"THIS IS the first Liverpool gig I've ever enjoyed," announced Pete Wylie at the end of the set, and it was probably the one that ...
Interview by Deanne Pearson, No. 1, 20 October 1984
Aswad have been Britain's top reggae band for years. Yet for some reason only now are they making their chart debut with '54 46 Was ...
Aswad: Rebel Souls (Island)****
Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 27 October 1984
GETTING A sense of perspective on Aswad is difficult at the best of times, and it's even worse with the release of this elpee because ...
Aswad: The Palace, Los Angeles
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 19 July 1985
STEEL PULSE spearheaded the charge of British reggae artists to America, but Aswad served notice at the Palace on Wednesday that it's ready to claim ...
Aswad, Toots & The Maytals: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Push, Melody Maker, 19 September 1987
THE HOMECOMING. The hope coming. Aswad are undoubtedly the most prestigious band who could assist in the revival of a genre whose popularity has flagged ...
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 9 April 1988
DEEP JOY is in my heart that Aswad have had a giant hit single, a corking little pop reggae soul tune of some upliftingness. However, ...
Aswad: The genial face of reggae
Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 23 December 1988
Having recognized that music is a business, Aswad have at last won the recognition they deserve, David Sinclair writes. ...
Nelson Mandela Tribute Concert, Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Robert Sandall, Rolling Stone, 31 May 1990
WHILE THE black south African leader Nelson Mandela was still in jail, his seventieth birthday, in June 1988, inspired the starriest gathering of rockers since ...
Aswad: Too Wicked (Mango LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 22 September 1990
ANYONE FAMILIAR with the sussed militancy of Aswad's early 'Three Babylon' period would never have expected them to take an easy option and 'go commercial'. ...
Live Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 1992
The Musical Diversity Is as Broad as the Quality Is High at Reggae Sunsplash at Greek Theatre. ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 September 1994
From their early militant days to today's mellowed-out elder statesmen, ASWAD have hauled British reggae into the '90s, sidestepping genres and influencing everyone from Ace ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, The Guardian, 4 October 2008
Kieron Tyler celebrates that rare thing – a British movie about reggae ...
Guide by Kieron Tyler, Q Classic, 2015
Author's note, 2020: The Harder They Come, conspicuous by its absence from this list, was not included, since it was the subject of a feature ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, June 2019
Reggae may have been born in Jamaica, but it grew up in '80s Britain at a time of evolving multiculturalism, finding an unlikely ally in ...
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